Tire Tracker: News round-up

Bellow is the highlight of latest news from the tire industry: Michelin North America... Conti... Goodyear... Sameer Africa... Marangoni... Pirelli... Bridgestone... Viva holding...

Michelin North America is offering an improved version of its Michelin XZY3 on/off-road tire for construction and tanker applications.

Continental AG announced on 8 June that it started production at the high-performance technology centre (HPTC) located at the firm’s Korbach tire plant, built over the past two years at a cost of more than €45 million. (Read more)

Goodyear is expanding the footprint of its Lawton plant in a $27.5 million project that will add 16,500 square feet of factory space to accommodate curing presses for larger-diameter tires.

Sameer Africa, maker of Yana tires, is planning to stop production at its plant in Nairobi, Kenya, and potentially moving production off-shore to India or China, according to Standard News Kenya. The company has been making losses in the past two years and is losing market to cheaper imports.

Marangoni Tyre SpA is accelerating production of its Blackline ultra-performance range of retread products in response to an evolving retread market.

Off-road/industrial tire maker Camso has developed a new naming system that it claims will make it easier for customers to spec the correct tire or track among the myriad niche applications in the construction and industrial machine industry.

Continental is supplying premium tires for transfer buses of all 24 teams taking part in the UEFA Euro 2016 championships to take place in 10 June – 10 July in France.

Pirelli Tyre SpA broken ground on a €176 million expansion of tire capacity at its 4-year-old car and light truck tire plant in Silao, in Mexico’s Guanajuato state, on 4 June.

Rubber and plastics recycler Viva Holdings Group is planning to build a €25-million plant in Berkeley County, South Carolina, according to a company filing with the Commerce Department on 12 May.

The US Rubber Manufacturers Association has launched an online tire recall search tool concurrent with National Tire Safety Week.

Supplier of sport tires DMACK is planning to build a new €400-million tire plant in the UK in a bid to up its game in the World Rally Championships. (Read more)

Pirelli Tire LLC, the US subsidiary of Pirelli, is recalling a small number of Pirelli P Zero Trofeo tires produced between 1-15 April, due to production error.

Michelin and Bridgestone were among the winners of the Innovation Awards at the German tire trade show Reifen in Essen 24-27 May. (Read more)

Pirelli is to receive a free grant worth €1.9 million from the Lombardy regional government for its ‘total safety system’ R&D project, the tire makers announced 9 Feb. (Read more)

Michelin has signed a deal with trade unions to change the working patterns of employees at its site in La Roche-sur-Yon, as part of €56-million modernisation plans at its sole remaining truck tire facility in France, French press reported on 25 April.

A Chinese appeals court has ruled in favour of Bridgestone in a case regarding infringement of tire tread design rights against Chinese tire manufacturer Triangle Tyre Co., Bridgestone announced on 19 May. (Read more)

Yokohama Rubber is investing about Yen3.7 billion (almost €30 million) to expand production capacity for high-performance tires at its plant in Shinshiro City, the company has announced. (Read more)

Polyurethane tire-maker Amerityre saw sales fall by around 20 percent in the third quarter of 2016 to €821,000, compared with $1.2 million in the same period in 2015.

The merger of Pirelli & C. SpA and ChemChina took judicial effect on 1 June, with all accounting and fiscal effects to be retroactive to 1 Jan.

Michelin North America has filed suit against Atturo Tire Corp. and Svizz-One Corp. alleging they infringed a design patent covering the Michelin Latitude tire tread design.

Nissan Motor has selected two versions of the Hankook Dynapro as OE fitments on the 2016 Frontier pickup truck sold in North America.

Michelin has reported a “steady shift” towards 315/70 R 22.5 fitments within the UK truck tire replacement market.

Pirelli has started supplying truck tires as original equipment fitments to MAN Truck & Bus in Europe, the Italian tire-maker announced 3 May.

Councillors in the Welsh county of Blaenau Gwent have approved plans by Rubber Manufacturing to set up a tire recylcing plant near two food businesses, provided that a chimney stack is placed on the opposite side to the food manufacture.   (South Wales Argus)

A DHL worker was killed and three others were injured as a metal storage container full of tires fell on them, after crashing through a roof. According to Mirror news website on 4 Feb, an unnamed 50-year-old man died while three of his colleagues suffered injuries beneath the tires.

Arsenal Football Club players Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mathieu Debuchy and Kieran Gibbs have taken part in a promotional event organised by club sponsor Cooper Tire Europe. The players had to kick the ball through the Cooper’s new Zeon 4XS Sport SUV tire . The winner was Gibbs, with three successful strikes – as shown in the video https://youtu.be/1UWI-El0pZs.

Reports from Australia suggest that a pile of tires at Melbourne’s Crumb Tyre recycling centre, which has been ablaze since 11 Jan, had been flagged as a fire hazard and was more than 30-times bigger than the largest allowed under new environmental regulations. According to the Australian news website The Age, an electrical fault in a tractor is believed to have started the tire which raised a toxic alert in parts of the city.

Fleet management company Incident Support Group (ISG) has contracted ATS Euromaster to supply and fit premium Michelin tires across more than 400 cars and vans for one of its key account customers in the healthcare sector.

The Financial Times has reported that eight former employees of the Goodyear factory in Amiens, northern France, have been given a two-year prison sentence each, for holding their managers hostage in a protest against the plant’s closure. Another 15 months, it said, will be suspended, after the unlawful confinement of two managers in January 2014.

Lexus LC500 luxury sports coupe was launched at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on 11 Jan featuring Michelin’s most advanced run-flat UHP tire, the Pilot Super Sport ZP (Zero Pressure).

BKT has officially inaugurated its new $500-million tire plant at Bhui in Gujarat, India, the company announced 21 Dec. (Read more)

Qingdao Sentury Tire is budgeting “several hundred” million dollars for a passenger tire plant in the US, with 2017 as the target for getting established, according to Sentury President Lanny Lin.

Bridgestone has lost the bid to buy Pep Boys as the company's directors – Manny, Moe & Jack and Icahn Enterprises LP approved Icahn’s $1.03 billion (€958 million) offer to buy full control of the Philadelphia-based tire and auto parts retailer and auto service provider.

Tire maker Giti closed its TBR plant in Chongqing, China in November 2015. It is also laying off 1,000 employees at the plant, leaving about 100 staff to hold the fort.

Pirelli has assigned exclusive distribution rights to its Pirelli-brand motorcycle tires in India to Indian tire maker CEAT Ltd

Michelin Group’s European technology centre has “officially acquired” the Ivalo Arctic ice testing centre, the French tire-maker announced 1 Dec.

According to reports in the Chinese press, Qingdao Doublestar’s plan to set up a joint venture tire plant in Oskemen with Kazakhstan’s co “TOO” has received local gov’s approval.

MAN has chosen Michelin’s 315/70 R 22.5 X Line Energy tires as preferred choice for its new EfficientLine2 model. In tests run over a 130-mile route for a week, the tires showed a 5 percent gain in fuel efficiency over another high=performance Michelin.

Truck trailer maker Schmitz Cargobull has chosen the Conti Hybrid HT3 as a standard tire for its product portfolio. The trailer tire has a newly developed tread compound offering increased mileage and improved wet grip performance and optimised rolling resistance.

Williams’ Felipe Massa has been excluded from the results of the 2015 Brazilian F1, after the stewards found that his right-rear tire did not comply with the maximum permitted temperature ahead of the start of the race. Massa has submitted an appeal against the verdict which strips him of his eighth-place finish. (PlanetF1)

The US firm Schrader Electronics, which makes tire pressure gauges for the car industry, is to release 42 temporary employees from its Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland, plant before the end of the year. (BBC)

MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has said that the Michelin front tires of supplier were likely the cause of problems for riders in post-season testing. Several riders crashed on day 1 of testing at Valenciaas the field got used to new tires and electronics for 2016. (Auto Sport)

In the UK, Goodyear is to provide a free set of tires to all staff employed throughout 2016 – angering staff in Wolverhampton, who had long sought this perk but are facing redundancy next year.

Cooper Tire Europe has launched a full Arabic website for the Middle East tire market. The move follows a recent announcement that the company would be the official tire sponsor of this year’s Dubai International Motor Show.

Unions are calling for moves to address energy costs in Northern Ireland following Michelin’s decision to shut its Ballymena plant. The tire-maker cited high energy costs among the reasons for the closure which will see 860 jobs axed. (Just Auto)

FIA is set to ratify Pirelli as the winner – over Michelin – of the 2017-19 Formula 1 tire tender. Bernie Ecclestone announced in Russia that he'd signed a deal with Pirelli, but the choice still had to be formally approved by the FIA. (motorsport.com)

Northern Ireland-based haulier Sawyers Transport has signed up to Michelin Effitires tire management system. The price-per-km deal will cover a fleet of 300 refrigerated and curtainsided trailers and 250 tractor units. Sawyers previously operated a mixed tire policy through a local service provider.

English football team Chelsea and its manager Jose Mourhino continue to mis-fire, both on and off the pitch, but three-year sponsor Yokohama Rubber is remaining loyal. The Japanese tire maker has launched a tire called the “BluEarth-A AE50 Chelsea FC Edition” with the Blues logo on the sidewall. It is being released “gradually” in Europe, Asia and South America.

In the UK, Anglian Water and Michelin have marked a five-year drive to ensure tires are maintained at the correct pressure across its 4,000 employees’ vehicles. A sample of nearly 100 cars and vans inspected by Michelin in the latest study found average tire pressures accurate to within less than 0.1 per cent across the fleet. Under-inflation averaged 15.2 percent in 2011, cutting tire-life by up to 10 percent.

Bridgestone Americas Inc. has agreed to buy Philadelphia-based tire retailer/auto service provider Pep Boys—Manny, Moe & Jack for about $835m. “Bridgestone and Pep Boys are two leading companies that share a proud heritage in the American automotive services industry,” said Gary Garfield, CEO and president of Bridgestone Americas.

Barcelona-based Membat has gained an A rating in the EU tire labelling scheme,  for its Passion run flat tire, which is designed run deflated at 80 km/hour for 50km. The tire is claimed to have the best performance in wet grip on the market, with a braking distance on wet roads of 18 meters.

Marangoni Commercial Tyres has added the super-single MT National 3 to its Marix range of hot retreaded truck tires. Currently available in 385/65R22,5, it is designed for regional and long-distance transport, including trailers and semitrailers. Features include a tread profile with four wide longitudinal grooves for directional stability, even on ice, and a compound that enables the tire to work at lower temperatures in conditions of use likely to cause overheating.

Pirelli’s board has nominated ChemChina chairman Ren Jianxin to be chairman of Pirelli. He is to succeed Marco Tronchetti Provera, who has resigned in the wake of ChemChina’s acquisition of majority control of Pirelli. (Tire Business)

Membat has gained an A rating in the EU tire labelling scheme,  for its Passion run flat tire, which is designed run deflated at 80 km/hour for 50km. Barcelona-based Membat claims the run flat has the best performance in wet grip on the market, with a braking distance on wet roads of 18 meters. As well as a reinforced sidewall, the tire bead is said to firmly hold the tire on the wheel flange, avoiding tire-bead separation from the wheel, while the rubber compound and tire cord allows it to resist temperature-rise.

Spanish authorities are struggling to dispose of five million tires dumped on a site close to a housing development north of Toledo, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper, Some 90 kilotonnes of tires, it said, have been dumped there since 2002, covering 117,000 square metres on the Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha regional boundaries.

Bridgestone Corp. plans to invest $250 million through 2018 to strengthen its corporate research and development facilities in Japan, a move that will involve relocating radial passenger and light truck tire production out of the Tokyo plant to other Japanese factories. The project will involve consolidating all research offices and laboratories, including biotechnology and raw material development, at the Kodaira City complex in Tokyo.

Bridgestone has secured a fleet deal with Maxi Haulage supplying tires from its Bourn, UK retreading facilities, the tire maker said 13 Oct. It linked the deal to its efforts to maximise tire-life as well as to the performance of its retreading facilities in Bourne, Lincolnshire. “There were several key drivers for adopting a Bridgestone new and retread tire policy for our fleet, but ultimately it was a combination of the performance of a premium Bridgestone new tire, complimented by the Bandag retread offering,” said Maxi Haulage fleet engineer Steve Sugden. Read more

Yokohama Rubber has made new advances in tire aerodynamics technology that control the air flow around tires in motion. According to a Yokohama release on 15 Oct, the new technology could reduce vehicle aerodynamic drag and lift. Its application could lead to the development of new tires that raise fuel efficiency and increase vehicle safety. The technology, it said, controls aerodynamic flow throughout the vehicle body by using a new fin shape and placement technique that puts fins at angles near the tire’s shoulder.

Hankook Tire Europe has introduced its new winter tire – Winter i*cept RS² – as part of the company’s new Winter i*cept generation. The tire, Winter i*cept RS²,  said the company, is optimised for the moderate winter conditions in central and western Europe and is already market available. The directional V-shaped tread design features 28 percent more pitches as well as increased groove and block edge length, which lead to enhanced traction on snow-covered surfaces. Read more

Eccles, Manchester-based haulier Olivers Transport has hit a new record-high mileage of 362,689km on a set of Michelin X MultiWay 3D XDE drive tires in its fleet.  The four 295/80 R 22.5 X MultiWay 3D XDE tires, which had been regrooved, were removed from a DAF 6×2 tractor unit used regularly on a return trip from the company’s Scotland base to Birmingham, said a Michelin press release on 7 Oct. The DAF tractor, said Olivers Transport fleet engineer Kevin Hawker, pulled a double-deck curtainsider trailer to Birmingham and back, double-manned. “When we removed the tire set during routine brake maintenance there was still 3mm usable tread on them, which would have been good for another 5,000-6,000km,” he added.

Cooper Tire Europe has launched three new tires, including SUV and off-the-road tires.The company announced on 7 Oct that it had unveiled an all new Zeon CS8 to replace its Zeon CS6 with new tread pattern and technological features.The new tread pattern designed with large circumferential grooves that clear water quickly and efficiently from the contact patch to reduce aquaplaning in the wet. Read more

Yokohama’s W.drive V905 winter tire, sold primarily in Europe, achieved “very high” scores in winter tire tests conducted by Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC), according to the Japanese tire-maker. “W.drive V905’s overall score placed it in the top two of 19 recently tested tires,” said Yokohama in a statement on 6 Oct. The tire received the “highest possible score” for dry-road performance and “good” scores for its performance on wet and snow-covered roads, it added. Read more

Michelin Premier LTX has outperformed its two other rivals in an independent test of crossover/SUV all-season tires in the US. According to tire tester Tire Rack, it evaluated three of the newest tires in the category: the Kumho Crugen Premium, the Michelin Premier LTX and the Yokohama Geolandar G055. The tires were mounted, at full tread depth, on the 18×8.0 wheels of a 2016 Porsche V6 Cayenne and evaluated on Tire Rack’s own test track and along a six-mile road loop. Read more

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has awarded Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd a contract to supply Falken-brand tires for 2016 Chrysler 200 models destined for export. FCA will fit the export-designate Chrysler 200s with Falken Ziex ZE914 Ecorun radials in size 215/55R17, according to Rancho Cucamonga-based Falken Tire Corp., Sumitomo’s US sales subsidiary for the Falken brand.

Nexen Tire Corp. has won the “outstanding quality performance award” at a suppliers’ award ceremony by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The award is given to companies for outstanding plants for manufacturing quality products among global suppliers. This year Nexen’s plants in Changnyeong and Yangsan, South Korea, were recognised.

Hankook Tire has launched a new tire brand Laufenn on the European market during the Frankfort motor show (Internationale Automobil Ausstellung – IAA), currently underway in the German city. According to Hankook, the new line-up of Laufenn products, to be available as of spring 2016, was developed especially for the European market needs, said the tire-maker, adding that company’s European technical centre (ETC) in Hanover, Germany, played a vital role in the tire’s development. “It [Laufenn] will grow as a sustainable brand of our company with our strategic efforts to meet the diverse needs of consumers in this market," said Ho-Youl Pae, Head of Hankook Tire Europe, adding that the company intended to invest in the brand and make it a market player in Europe.

Korean tire maker Kumho is a unveil a tire developed for electric vehicles (EVs) at the IAA motorshow, being held  17-27 Sept in Frankfurt. The Wattrun tire is 25 percent lighter than other EV tires on the market and exhibits “excellent” braking on wet roads and a low noise level, Kumho announced 8 Sept. Also on display will be new run-flat tires with enhanced safety features, and self-sealing-tires that prevent air leakage in the event of a puncture.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has begun delivering Falken brand "Ziex ZE914 Ecorun" high-performance tires to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for OE fitment on its new model "Chrysler 200." According to a press release by SRI, the tires will strike a balance between fuel efficiency, stable steering performance and wear resistance. Ziex ZE914 Ecorun will be outfitted on vehicles made in America for export.

US-based Cooper Tire is looking to increase its presence in the Middle East, sponsoring the 2015 Dubai Motor Show slated for November. According to Drive Arabia, Cooper Tire Europe’s managing director Jeff Schumaker said at a press conference that the next 12 months would be “hugely important” as the company tries to “make its mark” in the Middle East. Cooper Tire already supplies tires to the region, including off-road tires.

Yokohama’s Avid S34 has been selected as original equipment on Mazda’s new compact crossover SUV, Mazda CX-3, in the North American market, the Japanese tire-maker announced 28 Aug. Two tire sizes are being supplied: P215/60R16 94H and P215/50R18 92V.  The Avid 34 is an all-season passenger car tire with features from the company’s BluEartch concept, such as being “environmentally, human and socially friendly”, said Yokohama, adding that the tire contributed to higher fuel efficiency with high drivability and safety levels. Yokohama also announced that its Advan Sport V105 had been selected as original equipment on the new Mazda MX-5 two-seater convertible sports car. The supplied tire size is 195/50R16 84V.

Michelin Americas Truck Tires, part of Michelin North America, has launched its Michelin X Multi Energy D Pre-Mould retread for regional and emerging super-regional applications. Complementing the previously launched Michelin X Multi Energy D drive tire, the SmartWay-verified retread will deliver 25 percent longer tread life than competitive retreads, said Michelin in a press release on 27 Aug. In addition to that, the tire-maker said that the retread is also “guaranteed” for a second retread when retreaded on a Michelincasing (Michelin on Michelin) by Michlelin retreated technologies (MRT) dealers.

BFGoodrich Commercial Truck Tires is extending its warranty offered for its commercial truck tires and casings, effective on claims filed on or after 1 Sept, the company announced on 25 Aug. “Warranty coverage against defects in workmanship and materials for all BFGoodrich commercial truck tires will now extend to the life of the original tread or five years from the date of manufacture, whichever occurs first,” the tire maker said, adding that the move reflected “the brand's proven performance”. Date of manufacture is based on the original DOT number moulded on the tire sidewall.

ERJ's sister publication Tire Business has contributed to this report.